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New bishop prepares to lead El Paso Catholics

El Paso's new Bishop Mark Seitz will be installed during a special mass on July 9th at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center. Bishop Seitz is shown with his coat of arms with the slogan "My Heart is Ready." (Mark Lambie/El Paso Times)

It hasn't been easy saying goodbye to the Catholic community in Dallas, the Texas city Bishop Mark J. Seitz has called home for 41 years.

And in a personal, weeklong retreat with monks in the Subiaco Abbey in western Arkansas, Seitz has prayed about his calling to be the new bishop of the El Paso Catholic Diocese, he said.

Seitz will be installed as bishop of the diocese Tuesday in a Mass at the El Paso convention center. The Mass is open to the public, and about 4,000 people, including the Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo Garcia-Siller, several bishops, clergy, faithful and more than 30 members of Seitz's family, are expected to attend.

REPORTER

María Cortés González

Seitz will become the sixth bishop for the diocese, replacing Bishop Armando X. Ochoa, who was installed as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fresno in February of 2012.

On a recent Tuesday, having just been in El Paso for a day and with plenty to unpack, Seitz was calm, and saying he feels at peace and, most importantly, ready to serve the more than 670,000 Catholics that make up the 10 counties in far West Texas.

"Every bishop has a motto, let me show you," Seitz said as he picked up a framed coat of arms with symbols of his new diocese as well as of his Irish and Native American heritage and his patron saint.

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" 'Paratum cor Meum.' It means 'My heart is ready'. It's taken from Psalm 57, and it's also in Psalm 108. And it was the motto of the bishop who ordained me and who lived with me for nine years after he retired, Bishop Thomas Tschoepe.

"It just seemed like a beautiful motto when I saw it. It speaks to the kind of responsiveness I want to have to God's will for my life."

With only a few days in El Paso, it is clear Seitz needs time to get to know clergy, leaders and the congregations of the 55 parishes and 22 missions under his leadership. And he stresses that, like a trucker, he needs to get his ears on.

"I'm really ready to listen a lot more than speak," Seitz, 59, said. "I want to really get to know the reality of El Paso. It's a different place with a different history and culture, and so I hope people will be patient because I won't serve them well unless I listen well and that will take time.

"This calling is like one step deeper in that commitment to God. I've really reflected a lot about my own calling to be a disciple of Jesus and to reflect him and his goodness. I can't really help anyone unless I'm a good disciple."

Deacon Carlos E. Rubio, assistant chancellor of the diocese, said Seitz is already taking steps to learn about his new diocese.

"He's getting a lot of background on what is going on in the diocese," Rubio said. "He's been meeting pastoral leaders and one of things he wants to do is to get around to all the parishes. It's very much a part of his agenda."

Religious leaders in Dallas who worked closely with Seitz said they are sad to lose a shepherd. El Paso is gaining a bishop who is a great teacher of faith, who leads by example and will make the Catholic church present where it needs to be, they said.

"He has a strong conviction to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church," said Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, who appointed Seitz and another bishop, J. Douglas Deshotel, as auxiliary bishops in 2010. "He is a very good listener and more importantly, he is a reconciler. And he leads not only by word but by his own example."

At the mention of being called a "reconciler," Seitz smiled. His own upbringing probably had something to do with it, he said.

Seitz was the oldest of 10 children, living in Heartland, Wis., for the first 11 years of his life.

"When you're one of 10 children, you've got to figure out how to reconcile and get proactive right from the beginning," he said. "But I think one of the most important things a leader in the church can do is to help people to listen to one another and to respect one another.

"They are very simple virtues that we would like all of our children to learn and that we have to keep working on as adults. Perhaps a gift that God has given me is that I really respect everyone. He's helped me to see their goodness. I don't divide the world into friends and enemies."

Unlike most bishops, Seitz had the unique challenge of serving as both auxiliary bishop and a parish priest, due to a shortage of priests in Dallas. But in his farewell letter to the parish, Seitz acknowledged that it was a blessing he enjoyed.

"God called me to be a parish priest. It is what I have loved to do since I was ordained to the priesthood 33 years ago," he wrote. "To leave that behind as I accept this new call from the Lord will be perhaps the greatest sacrifice this new ministry will entail."

As auxiliary bishop, Seitz was very visual in the community, enjoying being an officiant for baptisms and confirmations. He is pleased that he spearheaded the building of a new rectory for one of the poorest churches in the diocese, and he also reinvigorated a program that prepares deacons.

"It had operated for a long time at a certain level, and Bishop Farrell wanted to improve on it to have it more frequent. We were beginning a group every six years and we were able to get it going every two years," he said. "The diocese is going to have a very effective program for the formation of permanent deacons who can be a tremendous source of ministry."

Seitz also got involved in supporting issues that mattered most to him, such as protecting the sanctity of life and helping immigrants.

"Because of his great love for immigrant people, he has been instrumental in bringing unity among those most recent arrivals to our nation and those who have been here for many generations," Farrell said. "His love for the Hispanic community led him to learn Spanish, and he has been a tremendous help in ministering to the large Spanish-speaking community in the diocese of Dallas."

Seitz was recently asked to be a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' CLINIC, which stands for Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. The 501-C3 organization supports a growing network of community-based immigration programs.

On the subject of pro-life, Seitz said, "It's been a lifelong interest of mine. To me it's the ultimate violation of the dignity of a human person and therefore it's the ultimate social issue of our time. If we don't respect our most innocent and helpless members, then how are we going to have respect for anyone else?"

He served as the spiritual director of the White Rose Women's Center and was on the board of directors of the Birth Choice Catholic Crisis Pregnancy Center in Dallas.

Karen Garnett, executive director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas, who has worked with Seitz for 20 years, said he is an amazing witness and pro-life advocate. His coat of arms includes a red rose, which represents the respect for human life at all its stages, from conception to natural death.

"To show you his commitment, he's been wearing a silver bracelet on his wrist with the date Jan. 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion," Garnett said. "The decision just broke his heart, and he's been wearing that bracelet in solidarity with the unborn since then."

Seitz also dedicated the Garden of the Good Shepherd at St. Rita Catholic Parish in North Dallas. The garden pays tribute to children who have died because of a miscarriage or at birth.

"It's a beautiful garden and a special legacy he is leaving here," Garnett said. "He really lives his holiness and his love for God. We'll miss him dearly."

As he acclimates to his new life, Seitz has recently embraced social media, specifically joining Twitter. He can be followed at twitter.com/BishopSeitz.

"I'm anxious to be connected and know that I can't personally spend time with all 670,000 Catholics in the diocese, not to mention all the others that I will serve as best I can," Seitz said. "This just gives me a way to share a thought or let people in on my life a little bit. I hope that it will be an effective way, especially to connect with the young people of the diocese."

María Cortés González may be reached at mcortes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6150.

Make plans

What: Installation Mass for Bishop Mark J. Seitz

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: El Paso convention center.

Expected to attend: More than 20 bishops including Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of Fresno and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas.

Details: Prayer cards will be distributed to those in attendance as a memento. The cards will have the prayer of St. Patrick, who is a patron of the Diocese of El Paso, in acknowledgement of Seitz's Irish ancestry.